2023 Road Trip: Civil Rights Trail: Birmingham, AL (5/7/2023)

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Before heading to Birmingham, AL, we saw the
Roadside America attraction of the Big Peach Water Tower
in Clanton, AL, where we had spent the night

"Dynamite Hill" was a neighborhood in Birmingham
that received its nickname due to the over 40
bombings by the Ku Klux Klan of homes of Black
families who had moved in west of Center Street;
plus having windows shot out and front doors burned

Rev Martin Luther King, Jr's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'
Historical Marker at the Birmingham Police Department (KSS)

Dr King was arrested and jailed in April 1963
for participating in a nonviolent protest against
segregation, when he wrote a letter responding
to a public statement of concern and caution
from eight white religious leaders

Dr King explained in his long letter that he rarely responded to criticism of his activities, but that he felt these were men of good will and their criticisms well-intentioned. In response to their calling him an outsider, he cited men in the Bible who answered a call for aid and that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Being a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with affiliate organizations all across the South, he was compelled to be of assistance. He chided the critics for deploring the demonstrations without concern of the underlying causes, citing the record of police brutality and the unsolved bombings of homes and churches of the Black population. Dr King spoke of negotiations with local political leaders and even businessmen of the economic community, which either came to nothing or promises were broken. Although dialog through negotiations is preferred, the next step is legal and nonviolent pressure. "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." As for breaking the law (i.e., Jim Crow-type ordinances), Dr King reflected that he would break unjust laws, the same way he would have broken them in Hitler's time, by aiding his Jewish brothers. He also took issue with the critics claiming his nonviolent actions precipitated violence, and that he was an extremist. Okay, maybe like Jesus, he was an extremist in love. Dr King went on the express disappointment in the white moderate population, having expected that at least the white churches would support the struggle for racial equality; instead they have been opponents or have been silent behind the "security of stained glass window." He closed with a reprimand of their commending the police force for keeping "order," instead of commending the demonstrators for facing the violent police dogs, enduring brutal beatings, and suffering inhumane treatment in jail.

Restored A G Gaston Motel (1954, by Stanley B Echols),
which once offered accommodations and food for Black
travelers; it is to become part of Birmingham Civil Rights
National Monument because of its role in hosting the
leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
including Dr Martin Luther King, Jr in 1963,
and suffered bomb damage itself

A G Gaston Motel Courtyard

A homeless (or unhoused or house insecure) person
has fixed him- or herself a cozy abode

The massive Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (1992) is
also part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
(2017), which was closed today

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
statue (1992, by John Roden) of
Reverend Fred Shuttleworth, who as
pastor at the Bethel Baptist Church,
had a significant role in the
Civil rights Movement

Rev Shuttlesworth galvanized marches and demonstrations, enduring physical attacks and five assassination attempts by the Ku Klux Klan. He was jailed numerous times for his civil rights activities. In 1957, Shuttlesworth was a co-founder, along with Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, with a commitment to nonviolence.

Shuttlesworth was also involved in assisting the Freedom Riders in Birmingham in 1961, taking many from the hospital to recuperate at his church. He was in contact with tthe US Attorney General to try to find a bus driver willing to take them farther, but was unssuccessful. Instead he made sure they got to the airport to fly to New Orleans, the final destination of the Freedom Rides.

In 1963, Shuttlesworth invited the SCLC and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr to Birmingham for Project C (C for confrontation), which was inadvertently helped by the actions of Eugene "Bull" Connor, the Commissioner of Public Safety (with control over the police and fire departments), who used the Ku Klux Klan groups to heighten violence against Blacks. The televised images of Connor's directing handlers of police dogs to attack young unarmed demonstrators and firefighters using hoses to knock down children had a profound effect on American citizens' view of the civil rights struggle, and helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Shuttlesworth also participated in demonstrations in St Augustine, FL (which he cited as the place where civil rights activities met the most violent resistance) and in the 1965 March on Montgomery.

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (1911, by Wallace Rayfield
in Romanesque and Byzantine styles) was the first Black
church in Birmingham, and was the target of a bomb that
killed four young Black girls on a Sunday in 1963

The Sixteenth Street Church also served as a community hall for Black citizens, and speakers such as W E B DuBois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Paul Robeson, and Ralph Bunche enriched their lives. The central location of the church made it the headquarters for civil rights mass meetings and rallies, leading to the marches and demonstrations that marked the early 1960s in Birmingham.

A memorial lists the names of the four girls:
Addie May Collins, Carol Denise McNair,
Carol Rosamund Robertson, and
Cynthia Diane Wesley (KSS)

Four Spirits (2013, by Elizabeth MacQueen), a
sculpture group in Kelly Ingram Park portrays four girls,
representing those killed in the bombing of the
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church; two boys who were killed
the same day are also remembered: Johnny Robinson
who was shot by the police when running away with a
group of boys, and Virgil Ware who was shot by
one of two white boys riding by on a motor bike
(Johnny's and Virgil's portraits are on the bench) (KSS)

Photos of the four girls makes the tragedy more real (KSS)

Statue (1986) of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr
in Kelly Ingram Park that was the staging
area for many of  marches and
demonstrations by the Black citizens (KSS)

As thousands of demonstration participants were arrested and jailed, there were fewer Black adults to participate in the marches. Against the wishes of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr,  James Bevel of the SCLC decided to encourage children to skip school and demonstrate. Youth, ranging in age from 7 to 18 years of age, held picket signs and sang freedom songs as they marched the streets of Birmingham.

The Children's Crusade (1991, by James Drake),
represents the 600 children arrested and
jailed under orders of Bull Connor on the
first day that students marched

Water Cannons (1991, by James Drake); by the second day,
Bull Connor ordered the students to be blasted by
high-pressure water hoses, and continued the arrests

Ground Zero (1991, by James Drake) depicts
when Bull Connor also ordered police dogs
to be used to attack the students (a Roadside
America attraction they call Racist Dogs)

Birmingham businesses were willing to concede to the requests of the civil rights movement and desegregate, and many started to do so; however, Bull Connor would not give in. Eventually the Civil Right Act of 1964 was passed, and Bull Connor was ordered by the Alabama Supreme Court to vacate his office.

Foot Soldier (1995, by Ronald McDowell) is based
on a photograph (along with the Children's Crusade)
that gave the Civil Rights Movement a much
needed boost of support; but wait! - the photo turns
out to be an accidental moment with Walter Gadsden,
a student who skipped school to watch the protest,
that is, a bystander who was not a "foot soldier"

One of four reflecting pools around a circle with
the words: Revolution and Reconciliation,
in the center of Kelly Ingram Park

Three Ministers Kneeling (1992, by Raymond Kaskey)
depicts Rev N H Smith, Rev John T Porter, and Rev A D King
who led a march in support of Rev Martin Luther King, Jr,
Rev Fred Shuttlesworth, and Rev Ralph Abernathy,
who were all in jail; the three ministers arrived at
Kelly Ingram Park to be met by police with billy clubs
and dogs, so the knelt to pray (KSS)

Carver Theatre (1935) in the historic 4th Avenue
Black Business District is now the
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (KSS)

Colored Masonic Temple (1922, by
Robert R Taylor, the MIT graduate) once
housed businesses, a soda fountain, and the
offices of the NAACP

Knowledge is Power (2022, by Lydia Walker)

Freedom Riders Mural at the site of the Trailways Bus
Station in Birmingham, where the riders were first assaulted
by Ku Klux Klan members on the bus, then by a mob
at the bus station, while Bull Connor kept the police away

We were confused by similar names and addresses, and took 
a photo of the wrong church; this is correct Historic
Bethel Baptist Church (1926, in a mix of Gothic and
Renaissance styles) that was considered the epicenter of the
non violent, direct-action Civil Rights Movement under
Rev Fred Shuttlesworth, and was the headquarters of the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR)
that was formed when the state prohibited the NAACP in AL

Next: Magnolia Botanical Garden.